One of the most enduring icons of 20th-century America, Marilyn Monroe invented an endlessly fascinating public persona, but also concealed a private side known only to her closest confidants. A half-century after her death, her creation still blazes brightly in the cultural imagination, while its creator remains in the shadows.

LOVE, MARILYN features remarkable footage, audiotapes and rarely-seen photographs, as well as a recently-discovered trove of Monroe’s own handwritten letters, diaries, notes, poems, journals and notebooks, which document her private life against the backdrop of her very public life and loves. Interviews and archival footage spotlighting Arthur Miller, Joe DiMaggio, Amy Greene, Molly Haskell, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and Elia Kazan, among others, complete the picture of this icon in thrall to ambition and struggling with demons, who came to embrace life, friendship and hope.

Through these writings, the film highlights crucial events and relationships that shaped her tumultuous life, including: her impoverished California childhood as Norma Jeane Mortenson, marked by stints in orphanages and foster homes; her discovery in Hollywood after a brief modeling career; her early dedication to fitness and intellectual self-improvement; the evolution of the Monroe persona; and her ascension to stardom in the 1950s via films such as “Niagara,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “How to Marry a Millionaire.”

Other keyevents covered include her ill-fated marriage to baseball icon Joe DiMaggio, who wanted her to quit show business and become a housewife; Monroe’s decision at the height of her career to enroll at the Actors Studio in New York with Lee Strasberg; the creation of her own production company and subsequent roles in “Bus Stop” and “The Prince and the Showgirl”; her stormy marriage to playwright Arthur Miller, who wrote 1961’s “The Misfits,” her final film, and the miscarriage she suffered during their relationship; battles with depression, including a three-week stay at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, which Monroe described as a “nightmare,” and her subsequent treatment by psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson; her notorious appearance at President Kennedy’s birthday bash; and Monroe’s final weeks before her death on Aug. 5, 1962 at age 36.

The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and received a Gala Screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

For more information on the documentary, visit: Facebook: facebook.com/hbodocs; and Twitter: @HBODocs #LoveMarilyn.